Thursday, January 28, 2010

I am kind of cheating here. The pick for this week was Shrimp Bisque which was selected by Jennifer at The Blessed Home. I am sure I would enjoy it but I would be the only one and the recipe looked like it would be way to much work for just me. I feel especially guilty since it was recently my turn to pick and Jennifer did make my selection. Sorry Jennifer. I wanted to make something so I decided to make the Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms which was the pick right before Christmas - I was unable to make it then because I was so busy with Christmas stuff.

I can say I am very happy I decided to go back and make this one. It was easy to make. You can make the stuffing ahead of time and just throw them together when you are ready to bake them. This would be a very nice item to make for a party. My wife doesn't like sausage but with the sausage mixed with everything else she had no problem with it. I made these with the large stuffing mushrooms but other people made them with smaller mushrooms and they look great either way.

Thanks to Michelle of Welcome to the Club for this selection. If you want to check out the Shrimp Bisque you can check her blog. Sorry I didn't get this done in December but better late than never.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the sausage for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until it's completely browned. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients. Finally, swirl in the mascarpone and continue cooking until the mascarpone has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste, Cool slightly.

Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer. Bake until the stuffing for 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Well this is exciting! When I first started participating with the Barefoot Bloggers over a year ago I think I was a little over a hundred on the list of bloggers and I thought it would be several years before it was my turn to pick a recipe. For one reason or another people drop out and I am now number 27 of the 114 bloggers in Barefoot Bloggers. That makes it my turn to pick the recipe this month.

I was just talking to a buddy of mine a few weeks ago and he told me that he follows my blog but has never made anything since it all takes too many ingredients. I don't totally agree with that since I know that there have been several recipes that did not have many ingredients, I do know that there have been a fair share of recipes with a lot of ingredients and some hard to find ingredients. That brings me to my pick. I picked Indonesian Ginger Chicken because it looked like it would be good, easy to make, and because it had only five ingredients. So to my buddy - you better make this one - I know they have all this stuff in Switzerland or wherever you live now.

So I just got done saying how easy this recipe looked. I think I was a little overconfident but I tried to make this one twice before today. Last week I was all ready to make it but didn't read the recipe until the day I needed to make it and discovered that it needed to be marinated overnight. Next I decided to make it on this past Monday so thawed my chicken and was ready to make it and discovered that I neglected to buy ginger - who knew I would need ginger for Indonesian Ginger Chicken. That pushed my schedule to today - I almost was late on my own recipe pick.

With all that out of the way it really is easy to make. Takes about 5 minutes prep the night before to prepare the marinade. It marinates in the pan you cook it in so you just pop it in the oven an hour before you need it - flip it half way through and you are done. The chicken looked beautiful - shiny dark skin. It tasted just as good. The skin was crispy and flavored nice with the honey and ginger. I saw a few comments from people that thought some hot pepper flakes or something might have been a nice addition and I agree with them. I think it could have used a little salt too - an unusual thing to need in a Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.